Terrific effort by Nicky Henderson today. Seven winners from seven runners is no mean feat - and all achieved by a quarter past two! Sir Barney must be beside himself (and p****d as well, I should imagine).
He's clearly an absolute top class trainer, however I will never be able to look beyond the 2010 Champion Hurdle when people talk about his achievements. And just for good measure when his yard were laying Binocular at 7s on Betfair when he was best priced 5/2 three days before the 2011 Champion Hurdle. There's something just not entirely honest about the bloke I can look beyond. This is probably not what the thread wanted or deserved, apologies....
Understandable Grizz...bit of the Jim Bolgers about him although I must confess to being a fan of the old Henderson fella....(minus the manlove/restraining order in the post affection displayed by Sir Barney!) Good to see you back Fulkes.
Excellent day for Henderson and quite some achievement sending out 7 winners, let alone hitting the target with every runner!
This does wind me up abit, as I had a pretty hefty bet on Long Run Saturday, pretty much all of his other runners have been in tip top condition bar him. As for Grizzly, give the guy a break, the Binocular incident was just one of those things, they didn't think he would be recovered for the CH, but he recovered quicker than expected. Dexter.....Don't start on Jim Bolger either, he made a mistake by leaving New Approach in the Derby, which turned out to be a fortuitous one. He admitted the mistake a week before the race, and then decided to run him. So punters knew a week before the race that New Approach was running, and those that booed the horse, should hang there heads in Shame. I notice that no one slated Sir Micheal Stoute, after his stable had it off big time, on Harbinger in the KG, after sending out Workforce, in the physical condition of a cow
KS,Bolger stated that New Approach WOULD NOT run in the Derby a few days proir to the event,thus misleading punters and the racing fraternity in general. The fact he left the horse in the race by accident is frankly not the issue.He didn't,however,break any rules so the matter is ultimately a question of honesty and honour. How he fared re those qualities is purely subjective.
Dexter.....He did not state he would not run in the race a few days before, he stated that weeks before, though he realised he had made the mistake of leaving the horse in the race, a week before, and then connections had a change of heart. I realy don't see what he did wrong, they may have decided to pay a supplementary fee anyways, and they would have been fully entitled to. Anyone who was there on the day knew New Approach was running, and they could have backed him, just as I did. So to booe a horse who had just put up a fantastic performance, was bang out of order. A disgraceful act of pocket talk, because they has done there money on the race. Though I was one of the few cheering him into the winners enclosure, with my £1000 ticket on him, safely in my back pocket
A one-off and yes I could forgive, but to repeat the controversy on the same horse in the same race 12 months later ? And as I said, I sat watching the laptop as Binocular was getting laid at 7 and 8 for a best price 5/2 shot and he admitted on the eve of the race that he knew the previous Thursday that Binocular wouldn't run. I was at a preview evening with NH's assistant on the Monday and pretty much got the full SP. However this is not what the thread is about.....
Fantastic achievement by Mr Henderson. One of the training performances of our age. His position as the forum’s favourite trainer is cemented even further, methinks. That Dettori creature must be fuming though as the ‘Magnificent 7’ tag now belongs to Mr Henderson. Meanwhile, the ‘uproar’ that followed Binocular’s Champion Hurdle win really does highlight everything that is wrong with ‘Broken’ Britain at the moment. Mr Henderson’s fantastic achievement to get Binocular back from ‘the brink’ in such a short space of time was Awesome with a capital ‘A’. A fantastic training performance and proof, if it were needed, of his awesome skill and ‘magic hands’. This accomplishment should be shouted from the rooftops and highlighted as the great thing that it was rather than belittled and talked down courtesy of all sorts of wild accusations.
I agree with with you there Barney, Britain is well and truely broken now the toffs are back in Downing Street (or so it says in my Morning Star). Seriously though, as an Old Lambournian I have been fully acquainted with the story of the 2010 Champion Hurdle. The horse was proving very hard to get fit that year for one reason or another and almost out of desperation he was sent to Ireland for a change of routine and scenery. He thrived there and returned to Lambourn a different horse, the proverbial butchers dog. So I think Henderson needs to be congratulated for trying something different but in the end he got lucky because there was no way of knowing whether it would work. But there was certainly no monkey business - Henderson's has never been that sort of yard despite recent veterinary errors. I would concede that he needs to change his vets if he has not already done so.
Nicky Henderson's last 7 winners won him 29k, Paul Nicholls last 7 winners won him 212k. I think that just shows why hes been repeated Champion trainer for the last 6 years. 7 winners on the day is a good achievement but like King Shergar said, He gets the rest of his clan in top nick (I guess they didn't beat much) but Long Run turns up out of sorts. He needs to get him soaring to have any chance with the Ditcheat master...
I think that's a bit harsh Istabraq. Some horses need a run and Long Run has for the last two seasons. The Ditcheat master ran Master Minded last month when he was well short of his best. Actually I agree that Nicholls is a genius by the way.
Grizzly.....All yards lay antepost horses on Betfair. That does not mean it had anything to do directly with Henderson, he could have told someone who told someone else and so on then before you know it, there's loads on Betfair laying the horse. This is not a problem that just goes on at Nicky Hendersons yard, and when it happens, it does not mean it is directly the trainer doing it, it could be anyone of a number of people, or any of there friends who have been tipped off. Fulkes......The trainers championship is starting to look like a one horse race already, which is dissapointing, as it did look before the season that NH had a string enough team to give PN a real good run for his money. NH had 2 big guns out on Saturday, and they both lost, were as PN had 2 out, and they both won. This Saturday could be the final nail in the coffin, if Celestisl Halo turns over Binocular, and PN wins the Hennessy, then it's as good as over, with Big Bucks set to cruise home in the Long Walk. It realy would take a minor miracle for NH to get back in it from there
Bolger didn't break any rules - OK it wasn't too punter friendly in terms of the ante-post but anyone could have backed him on the day! Well done to Nicky Henderson - seven from seven is perfect but looking at the horses; the odds and the fields they were running in was it that big a surprise? I know it wasn't a perfect 7/7 but didn't Nicholls saddle the same number of winners a couple of Saturday's ago across different cards - and not too many were odds on favourites as I recall other than possibly Silviniaco Conti & Pascha Du Polder? I'd agree that if he takes the Hennessy this weekend, with Big Bucks to go also then he's going to be very difficult to catch when you look at the horses he has to roll out for the rest of the season!
Flyingbolt - what makes it a noteworthy achievement is that is was 7 out of 7. How many runners did PN have when he had 7 winners the other day? The big yards now have so many horses and runners that having half a dozen winners in a day is less of a deal. The master trainers of yesteryear typically had around 50 horses in their yard and I'm sure I remember Dickinson having 12 winners on a bank holiday. And Fulke Walwyn sent out six runners on one day in 1981 which all won. But we are in a different era now and the goalposts have certainly widened for the likes of PN and NH.
Not harsh Fulkes just the reality really, Across the card his 7 runners didn't beat much and like I was saying its hardly made any dent on Paul Nicholls lead at the top of the trainers table, Hes already 400k ahead of him. Like PN said in a interview just after NH's 7 from 7 '' Seven's great, But you've got to do it on Saturday when it counts '' The beauty of Paul Nicholls and his yard is the strength in depth, I wouldn't have given Brampour a hope in hell in the Greatwood and he was PN's second string with Harry Derham booked but he sauntered to a 2 and half length win and picked up 56k. He does it year in year out. As for Long Run, On all known form he should have won, Fit or not fit, Needing the run or not. Kauto Star as turned up at Haydock 3 times previous to last Saturday and won the race half tuned, Seeing off Beef or Salmon, Exotic Dancer and Imperial Commander along the way. Kauto ran more times than Long Run did last year and could have been made a case of needing the run but he cantered clear. Long Run should have won by rights but yet again Paul Nicholls showed why hes the best in the business....
